Romney never overcame bailout opposition in Ohio

In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, United Auto Workers member Harry Van Uden attends a rally on Election Day at the UAW Region 1 technical training center in Warren, Mich. Only a couple of weeks after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the man who would become his Republican challenger in the next election penned a New York Times column with a fateful headline: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Those four words would haunt Mitt Romney across the Rust Belt, where auto manufacturing remains an economic pillar _ especially Ohio, which every successful GOP presidential nominee has carried, and his home state of Michigan, where his father was an auto company executive and governor. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
— AP

In this Nov. 6, 2012 photo, United Auto Workers member Harry Van Uden attends a rally on Election Day at the UAW Region 1 technical training center in Warren, Mich. Only a couple of weeks after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the man who would become his Republican challenger in the next election penned a New York Times column with a fateful headline: “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” Those four words would haunt Mitt Romney across the Rust Belt, where auto manufacturing remains an economic pillar _ especially Ohio, which every successful GOP presidential nominee has carried, and his home state of Michigan, where his father was an auto company executive and governor. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
/ AP

DETROIT 
Only a couple of weeks after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008, the man who would become his Republican challenger in the next election penned a New York Times column with a fateful headline: "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

Those four words would haunt Mitt Romney across the Rust Belt, where auto manufacturing remains an economic pillar - especially in Ohio, a state that every successful GOP presidential nominee has carried, and in his home state of Michigan, where his father was an auto executive and governor.

Romney's opposition to the federal rescue of General Motors and Chrysler didn't necessarily seal his fate in those two crucial states. But no other issue hung in the background for so long. And nothing that Romney tried - his many visits, the millions spent on ads, his efforts to explain and refine his position - could overcome it.

"The biggest determining factor was that we couldn't handle the automobile bailout issue," said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party.

Fairly or not, the perception of Romney as indifferent to the auto industry's fate was "a coffin nail," said John Heitmann, a University of Dayton historian who teaches and writes about the car's place in American culture.

Ohio is second only to Michigan in auto-related employment. A 2010 report by the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor said the industry accounted for more than 848,000 jobs in Ohio, or 12.4 percent of the workforce. That included jobs with vehicle manufacturers or dealers and with businesses that sell products or services to them, plus "spinoff" jobs produced by their economic activity.

Exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks found that about 60 percent of voters in both states supported the government's loan and industry restructuring program, and three-quarters of them backed Obama. The bailout also was popular in Wisconsin, even though it hadn't stopped GM and Chrysler from closing plants there.

"We have a debt to pay back to President Obama. He saved us," said Joseph Losier, 33, a fourth-generation autoworker from suburban Detroit. After the bailout, Chrysler hired 500 people at the stamping plant where he works.

Even those with no direct connection to the industry were grateful.

"He actually kept his promise. I felt like he cared," said Darlene Jackson, 57, of Detroit, who has worked as a seamstress since losing her city job during the recession.

Romney insisted he'd been misunderstood - he wanted to save U.S. auto manufacturing, not destroy it. In his newspaper column, he argued that federal loans would merely postpone the companies' demise: "You can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye."

He called for a "managed bankruptcy" that would let the companies cut labor costs and become more competitive. Proper roles for government would include supporting energy and technology research, adjusting tax policies and protecting car buyers' warranties, he said.

But those nuances got lost as the campaign geared up. Automakers' fortunes had improved, and as many as 1 million jobs had been saved. Obama said Romney's approach would never have worked because no private capital was available to keep the companies afloat.